When Sheikh Mansour took over Manchester City, I suggested that his best route to the top of English football would be to buy and disband Manchester United, acquiring as many of their players as were wanted, then paint Old Trafford blue and use it as a training ground. Fortunately, the Sheikh and his Abu Dhabi associates preferred more constitutional methods.

Anyway, I was only joking, having a bit of fun at my red friends’ expense — even though the Sheikh did have more than enough money at his command to tempt the Glazers to cash in as the clouds of recession gathered.

As the gap between rich and ordinary people becomes wider and wider throughout the world, the potential for wealth to distort the patterns of life — in this case football — becomes greater. The way of controlling it is through politics.

Hence the letter addressed to Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore signed by representatives of Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham seeking support for strict application of UEFA’s financial fair play scheme.

These people are not idealists. They want a deterrent not to the use of wealth itself — United and Arsenal have big stadiums, Tottenham are about to follow suit and Liverpool intend to rebuild — but to sugar daddies on the Mansour model.

Martin Samuel, the Daily Mail columnist who broke the story this morning, preferred the more cuddly — if equally apposite — example of “Uncle Jack’’ Walker, who bought his home-town club, Blackburn Rovers, and equipped Kenny Dalglish with enough financial muscle to attract Alan Shearer and build the team who took the title in 1995.

Rovers’ title success was an occurrence without which the history of the Premier League era would be poorer and the same might be said of the City campaign that culminated in Sergio Aguero’s sensational snatch at the end of last season. But instances of the sugar daddy funding romance or, in the Manchester case, diversity cannot be taken in glorious isolation.

The riches with which Mansour or, before him, Roman Abramovich at Chelsea have built their empires are responsible for a salary inflation that not only disturbs United and Arsenal but destroys the chances of clubs otherwise eager to intensify competition at the top.

Aston Villa, in the time of Martin O’Neill, were one and they are now paying the price of Randy Lerner’s painful lesson. Everton under David Moyes are another. He and the admirable Bill Kenwright deserve medals for persistence — every time they look at the market, it goes through the roof.

The question of whether strict application of UEFA regulations forbidding clubs from spending more than they earn from football-related activity — they will be allowed leeway of £10 million a year or so — will help is a difficult one.

The obvious drawback is that it will set in stone the financial advantage of certain clubs and naturally anything to which David Gill puts his name must be treated with suspicion — United’s chief executive is like Sir Alex Ferguson in a velvet glove.

But we have given anarchy a chance and it has not worked. Financial fair play, on the other hand, has made a promising start, with the best piece of evidence to be found just a few miles from Old Trafford, where City are extending their academy into a thing of wonder, a thing of true worth, a thing that — crucially — UEFA have exempted from their controls because youth development and general care for the long term are precisely what the game needs.

This letter hardly scratches the surface of what the Premier League must do. But I’m glad that it was written.

Laudrup and friends would be sent to the slaughter

The answer used to be Kenny Dalglish and now it is Michael Laudrup. The question, of course, is who is the best footballer to have managed in the Premier League?

Given that we currently have, in order of class, Laudrup, Roberto Mancini, Martin O’Neill, then a group of relatively minor internationals — Chris Hughton, Paul Lambert and Steve Clarke — it seemed worthwhile to look back two decades and compare.

There were nine internationals managing in the early League — plus Howard Kendall, arguably the best of uncapped midfielders. The list was led by Dalglish but also included the brilliant Trevor Francis and Steve Coppell, who, but for injury, might have doubled his 42 caps.

Gerry Francis was a high-class player and Terry Venables more than decent. Joe Royle and Brian Clough were, in different ways, excellent centre-forwards. Joe Kinnear was steady. They would slaughter a team of today.

Rangers should stop moaning and quit Scotland

The reasoning behind Rangers’ threat to leave Scottish football is simple. They are in the fourth tier and certainties for promotion, yet their chief executive, Charles Green, claims they will suffer from a League reconstruction which would put them in the third tier next season.

No, I don’t get it either. But let’s not split hairs. Not when there is a chance of Rangers going. Ever since they were demoted with barely feasible debts, they have

been what PG Wodehouse called “a Scotchman with a grievance”, ie not to be confused with a ray of sunshine. And no one carries a grievance like the supporters of a football club.

Even my fellow Dundee fans tend not to understand why we had to be punished for serial administration. But we are nowhere near as paranoid as the Rangers family. So please, Mr Green, save our ears and truly go.

Souness puts boot in

Mike Dean did not spoil (analyst-speak for numerically imbalance) 65 minutes of yesterday’s match at the Emirates. Laurent Koscielny did, and it was refreshing to hear Graeme Souness and Jamie Redknapp say so. The clear-headed Souness is a great asset to Sky, even if those of us who remember his playing days can testify that he seldom rearranged the proportions of a 50/50 with the scrupulousness of Vincent Kompany.

Robin’s head over heels

Yes, his goal was a tap-in but Robin van Persie’s subtle backheel — the one that Pepe Reina brilliantly saved — was the highlight of a performance by an outstanding player at the peak of his game. One, moreover, who has been at the peak for two years, displaying a consistency matched only by Ballon d’Or short-listers. Yesterday, Van Persie became the favourite to win a second successive Footballer of the Year trophy.